Dr. Robert. N. Corley III

Dr. Robert N. Corley III serves as Senior Advisor to the President at Virginia State University, where he helps shape university-wide strategy, external partnerships, and capacity-building initiatives. A two-time graduate of Tuskegee University (B.S. and M.S. in Animal and Poultry Sciences), he earned his Ph.D. in Animal Sciences from the University of Illinois before completing a prestigious fellowship at Georgetown University’s Joseph P. and Rose F. Kennedy Institute of Ethics.

Prior to joining VSU, Dr. Corley spent more than a decade on the faculty at Tuskegee University, ultimately chairing the Faculty Senate. During that period he secured a U.S. patent for value-added omega-enhanced goat meat, authored more than forty peer-reviewed publications, and served as principal or co-principal investigator on grants totaling over $9.2 million. His funded projects spanned animal and human health, nutrition, leadership development, and academic innovation, underscoring a research portfolio that bridges laboratory science with real-world impact.

Known for combining ethical inquiry with land-grant mission science, Dr. Corley has completed several national leadership programs and continues to mentor emerging scholars. At Virginia State, he now steers cross-disciplinary teams that integrate data science, cooperative extension, and student success, advancing both the university’s research profile and its community outreach.